What makes it different from others?

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Dana Andrews plays Dr. Stephen Sorenson, a terminally ill scientist who decides to follow through on his dream project: using a missile to break through to the planet Earths' magma layer. His associate, Dr. Ted Rampion (Kieron Moore), has been preaching that this will be dangerous, and Ted is naturally proved to be correct. However, he has no time to say "I told you so", because he, Stephen, and others must race to save the world from the resulting title disaster.Copious stock footage mixes with pretty impressive special effects, designed by Eugene Lourie, himself the director of the classic dinosaur flick "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". Some viewers may be able to poke a lot of holes in the "science fact" aspect to the screenplay, but this shouldn't get in the way of enjoying what is a reasonably entertaining forerunner to the "disaster film cycle" of the 1970s. It's rather slow to get started, and does devote a fair amount of the running time to the love triangle. Ultimately, it delivers the goods if you stick with it. One thing about it that people should appreciate is the fact that it doesn't necessarily guarantee the viewer a happy ending. It keeps you hanging until its final frame. Among its other assets are the art direction (by Lourie), cinematography (by Manuel Berenguer), and music (by Johnny Douglas).Andrews gives a typically solid performance in the lead, but most everybody here is fine. That includes the gorgeous Janette Scott as the female scientist caught between Ted and Stephen. Alexander Knox rounds out the quartet of top billed performers in the role of the pragmatic Sir Charles Eggerston.This does offer a fair amount of fun if you're looking to discover sci-fi and disaster pictures from decades past.Seven out of 10.

Dana Andrews plays an ailing scientist trying to find a way to use magma from the center of the earth to create a new natural energy. Kieron Moore is his assistant, a scientist out to prove that what Andrews is doing could unleash a disaster if the earth's crust begins to crack. Of course, there is the obligatory romantic subplot, and it involves Moore and Andrews' much younger wife, Janette Scott. Things don't really begin to gel until the end, but in the meantime, there is the scene of the bomb descending into the earth to break through the crust to get to the magma, a series of conversations about sudden earthquakes that break out, and finally, a visit into an actual volcano to counteract the force of the magma by scientifically blowing it out like a candle. (Didn't I see this plot on "Gilligan's Island"?) But in disaster movies where scientists are trying to play God, things always go wrong, and a crack begins to develop in the ocean's floor that begins to head totally around the world. The film is actually pretty good, and the exposition scenes are not really boring. But it doesn't really become "hot" until the last 20 minutes, which makes the overall impact of the film less than it could have been. Still, it is a lot better than two other films that actually involved volcanoes-"Krakatowa, East of Java" (filmed obviously in a mirror-Krakatowa is WEST of Java!), and the disaster master Irwin Allen's hideous "When Time Ran Out". We would have to wait until years later for "Volcano" and "Dante's Peak" to entertain us more than those disasters did.It should be noted that Andrews looks incredibly handsome here, distinguished and gray, yet not lacking the appeal he had 20 years ago in "Laura". Alexander Knox has a bit part as an English Lord whose financing oversees the whole project.

"Crack in the World" is a terrific disaster movie. The plot is simple: a scientist disregards another scientist's evidence and sets off a nuclear reaction at the boundary between Earth's mantle and core. In so doing, he practically has doomed mankind. The conflict between Dr. Sorensen (Dana Andrews) and Dr. Rampion (Kieron Moore) isn't just over geological theory; it's also over Sorensen's wife and Rampion's former lover, Maggie (Janette Scott). The two men truly have a rivalry between theory and Maggie, and when it turns out that Rampion is proved right, Sorenson rids himself of Maggie while literally declining in health to the cancer that he's been treating in a matter of days. It's only in the end, when it looks as though there's a chance of survival for Earth, that Sorenson finds a new purpose: he's going to record the ending for posterity's sake.Overall, the acting and the special effects are quite good, and the supporting cast is excellent. Highly recommended.

The back story in CRACK IN THE WORLD is a bland love triangle when taken at face value. But there appears to be several elements of Greek Drama, Mythology, and Freudian symbolism working together throughout the film. This doesn't make it a better movie, but it's interesting to consider.Dana Andrews evokes Prometheus bringing fire to mankind; in a speech, he states his goal as "man's age-old dream to to get limitless energy." Because of his ill health, Dana imprudently rushes his plan along. The success would bring immortality to his name. He would also like a sense of immortality through having children. Unlike Prometheus he will not succeed in the way he wants.He feels ambiguously towards his wife because he is older, is in ill health, and seemingly stole her from a younger, more age-appropriate colleague. An Unnatural relationship like this in Greek Drama brings about major consequences to society until the Natural Order is corrected.Dana's plan to get energy is disputed by the jilted young colleague who predicts disaster and thus plays the part of a mythological oracle. Dana cheats him again by sending him off and somewhat minimizing the colleague's criticism to authorities.Freudian symbolism reinforces the Unnaturalness of the relationship. Dana's health issue is a cancerous hand, an ill limb which easily translates as a Freudian phallic symbol indicating a lack of potency. The symbolism continues in a discussion about the ground drilling between a government official and Dana's wife. After looking on at a phallic rocket pointing into (Mother) Earth, the Official reminds her that they haven't been able "to gain an inch in weeks." She looks unusually uncomfortable as if the comment has another meaning. Dana launches the missile which causes the disaster of the film title and fulfills the prediction of the young colleague/oracle. Confronted with his mistake, Dana begins to wear large black sunglasses. While this might be to avoid eye contact from feeling ashamed, it also suggests Oedipus who blinded himself after realizing his fate was fulfilled.The technical solution to stop the crack is doomed to failure because it wouldn't restore the Natural Order. It is the unexpected turn of events which resolve the matter. The crack circles back to it's source (ie Dana Andrews), kills him and creates a new moon. This does two things: It allows Dana to sacrifice himself so his wife and young colleague can reunite and restore the Natural Order. A squirrel digs himself out of the rubble to reinforce this notion. It also immortalizes Dana on two levels: a Freudian offspring from the missile into the earth, and a Mythological constellation attesting to his folly.